


A Secret Place

by lunrdarling



Category: IASIP, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, it's always sunny
Genre: F/M, Fluff, it's just a cute lil thing idk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-19
Updated: 2017-09-19
Packaged: 2018-12-31 18:30:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12138516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunrdarling/pseuds/lunrdarling
Summary: Charlie has something he wants to show Dee.





	A Secret Place

"How do I know that I can trust you?” Charlie asked suspiciously. 

“Shut up, Charlie. You can trust me,” She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest for warmth as they walked down the dark alleyway. 

“I don’t know,” He hesitated, walking backwards so he could look at her as he stayed a few steps ahead, “I’ve never really shown anyone this before.” 

Dee sighed. 

“Charlie.. Knowing you, it’ll probably be a stash of dead rats you’ve been collecting over the years, or a stockpile of your favorite cat food cans,” She shivered a bit, “Why the hell would I tell anyone about that? And why would anyone want to know?” 

Charlie didn’t say anything for a few seconds. He just squinted at her. 

“Well first of all, Dee, it’s a lot more special than either of those things. And B, you could tell the guys and you guys could have a good old time taking the piss out of me for it. Which has happened before. So,” He gestured with his hands, “Excuse me if I’m a bit spectacle of you.”

“Do you… Do you mean skeptical?” 

He squinted his eyes even more at her, “You know what I mean..” 

They didn’t talk for the rest of the way as he led her through another alleyway, down a dark street, and finally into a little hole in the wall shop that looked like it had been abandoned for at least a few years. 

“This is your big special secret?” Dee asked, furrowing her brows. She was glad to be out of the biting breeze, even if the place smelled like mildew and was covered in dust. 

“No, Dee, this isn’t my big special secret,” He sighed at her, exasperated. 

He walked over towards he back corner of the store and grunted as he removed a large panel of wood away from the wall. Behind it there was a large air vent, just big enough for a person to crawl through, with the cover pulled off of it. 

He got down on his knees and started to get inside. 

“Oh no no no. I’m not going in there,” She shook her head and started to back away, “If you have your fun crawling through tiny vents like some kind of rabid rat, then that’s you. But I’m not going to join you.” 

He backed out and rested on his ankles as he looked at her. 

“Come on Dee, would you just–,” He let out a frustrated groan-yell, “Would you just trust me?” 

It was her turn to squint at him.

They stared at each other for a moment, neither one budging, before she rolled her eyes. 

“Fine,” She got down on her knees and followed Charlie into the vent. 

It was cramped and dusty and she had to hold her breath to keep herself from coughing. Having to deal with Charlie’s dirty shoes in her face didn’t exactly make it any more pleasant, either. 

“How much longer, Charlie? This better not be the whole thing.”

“Not much longer, I swear.” 

She groaned and it echoed through the vents. 

They made a right turn down the vents and a few feet ahead she saw the cramped vents open up into a bigger space. It was dark, and she couldn’t see what was waiting for them. If it was sewers or something else even more disgusting, she was going to kill Charlie. 

“It’s too dark,” Dee said as Charlie disappeared into the larger opening. 

“Hold on,” The sound of him scrambling around lasted for a few seconds before he flicked on an electric lamp. 

The dim light bulb illuminated the space and revealed a fairly good sized area. There were blankets on the floor, and a few pillows. She could see a battery powered fan and a portable heater placed on opposite sides of the space. A lock box was in one of the corners and Charlie was fiddling with it.

She cautiously exited the vent. The area wasn’t tall enough to stand up in, but the roof was just high enough to comfortable sit and move around on your knees. 

Dee looked around and saw drawings and photos taped to the walls. All of them looked like they’d either been made or taken by Charlie. 

Charlie finally got the lock box open. She heard a crinkling sound and he turned around to face her again, holding out a sleeve of cookies. 

“I keep food in the lock box so nothing gets into it and eats it,” He told her. She reached out tentatively and plucked a cookie from the sleeve, taking a bit out of it. It still tasted relatively fresh and she found herself enjoying it as she chewed and swallowed. 

“You can have as many as you want,” He told her, setting the cookies down in between them on a blanket before he settled back against the wall with a pillow to cushion him. 

“Charlie, this is…” She was at a loss for words, “This is amazing.” 

A look of pride and happiness appeared on his face. 

“How did you find this?”

“Well,” He shoved a cookie in his own mouth and talked before he’d swallowed it, “I found the old store, right? And I saw the air vent and was like ‘oh cool’ because i thought maybe I’d find like some rats or something in here, right? But then I found this and thought it was better than rats or anything else,” He swallowed and picked up another cookie. 

“I’m not really sure why it was here in the first place, to be honest. I thought maybe it was like one of those places where someone hid their secret twin or something, like in the movies? But then I thought it would probably be too difficult to get them like food through the air vents and stuff so I don’t think it is,” He popped the second cookie in his mouth with the chewed up first one. 

“And you just.. You just brought shit in here and made it your own?” Dee was still looking around, noticing a few bottles of alcohol in another corner and a stuffed animal or two hidden under a few of the pillows. 

“Pretty much, yeah,” He nodded, “Sometimes I sleep here if I want to get away from the cats or if Frank has girls over. It’s pretty nice.” 

“Yeah,” She said softly, “It’s pretty nice,” She repeated him, agreeing. 

“So,” He paused and swallowed his mouth full of cookies, “Are you gonna tell the guys?” His voice was thick with nerves. 

Dee looked him in the eye. 

“I told you that you could trust me, didn’t I?” She gave him a small smile. 

He smiled widely back at her in return, a look of pure happiness in his eyes.


End file.
